At this time of year, there is nothing better than making comforting food. What is this you would say? I suppose people have various opinions as to what food feels comforting to them, but for me, that means slow cooking, simmered food, plat unique (one single dish) that you proudly place on the table and share with friends, in its pot, and that you cooked from old recipes passed on from one generation to the other and that will make everyone happy. In other words, there is a high sense of conviviality and tradition. For some odd reason, I prefer to cook these foods in the fall or more particularly in the winter. If it snows outside, what a life! Ideal!

Last night, we had some friends over for dinner and I decided I was going to make Osso Bucco.
Follow on there is more to hear!

It turned out to be the perfect choice as we could hear the wind blowing outside–which meant “cold, stay inside, stay warm”, — , and preparing us for this morning first winter snow storm. I served it with nice large pasta, that has the shape of ears, and of course nice rustic bread (pain de campagne). The gremolata is a perfect not-to-be-forgotten friend to Osso Bucco, so make sure not to forget it (which happened to me once, as I was carried away and pretty starving, hence did not think, but focused on buzz words “I am hungry and I need to eat now”).

So if you are not sure what ideas to have of plat unique, I suggest some below, learned along the years and kept in my repertoire as they bring amazing childhood memories.
Those dishes usually involve sauce, one great part of the meal is to dip bread in the pot at the end, au fond du pot, to make sure to not miss a bit:

Pot au feu (beef dish)

Boeuf bourguignon (beef dish)

Blanquette de veau (veal dish)

Bouillabaisse (fish dish, originally from Marseilles)

Couscous marocain (meat dish, lamb is one)

Lasagnes au boeuf (beef dish)

Jarret de veau au gingembre et à l’orange (veal dish)

Boeuf aux carottes (beef dish)

Endives au jambon (pork dish)

Moussaka (lamb dish)

Tajines (the list is so varied and long)

Canard à l’orange (duck dish)

Lapin à la moutarde (rabbit dish)

Petit salé aux lentilles

Choucroute

Navarin d’agneau

Langue de boeuf

I could give translations for those but I almost feel something would be lost while translating, silly me!

To finish, there is no better way than remind us all that we should all take advantage of the time we end up spending more inside, at this time of year and in this part of the world (well, yes think, in New Zealand, they have no clue what I am talking about since it is summer there now, which means BBQ). The best thing to do is to eat seasonal, hence winter for us, which brings great delicious comforting food.

3 comments

Hello! I stop by your blog every now and then because it is so beautiful and helps me find wonderful ideas for my dinner parties. I have only been cooking for two years or so, so I never seem to be able to make my food as beautiful as yours (or likely as tasty as yours!) but friends say mine tastes very good and they are not the types to just say such things just to make me feel good!

I am writing today to ask if you would be willing to share your recipe for boeuf bourguignon with me? I have found some good ones online but they all seem to have so many shortcuts! I am doing a dinner party for 8-10 in October and want to make something to warm everyone up. I thank you in advance.

Béatrice Peltre is a food writer, stylist and photographer working out of her home studio in Boston.
She is a regular contributor to the Boston Globe Food Section, and her work has appeared in many publications
such as Saveur, Food and Wine, Whole Living, Fine Cooking, the Wall Street Journal, NPR, the Huffington Post,
the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, Edible Boston, Living France, the New York Times Diner’s Journal,
and in many other international magazines.